Body Watch

JAMIE LEE CURTIS
HOW I LOST 18 LBS.!
Nearing 50, the star has gained perspective—and lost weight

THEN
161 lbs.

NOW
143 lbs.

More than two decades ago, she was the star of—and, face it, the embodiment of—the gym romance Perfect. In real life, Jamie Lee Curtis likes to remind people she's anything but. That's her, gray hair, laugh lines and all, on the May/June cover of AARP The Magazine. And her famous figure? "Denial," she tells PEOPLE, caused it to go a bit soft in recent years. "I was denying that I no longer metabolized the same way." While her size didn't worry her, her health did: "My blood pressure and cholesterol were crazy high." So at 161 lbs., the 5' 7" actress cut out favorites like Wheat Thins and granola. Now 18 lbs. lighter, Curtis says she likes herself more today than ever. "When I look around and see how unnatural people look, I think I have finally found what beauty is."

NOW
March 15 in L.A.

THEN
September 2006

SARA RAMIREZ'S SLIMDOWN

Asked last May about being the curvy break-out star of Grey's Anatomy, Sara Ramirez told PEOPLE, "It's an honor to be someone who is perhaps breaking the mold, or at least attempting to. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes." Now she's showing off a different, but still attention-getting, shape. The 5'9" actress-singer appeared noticeably slimmer in a David Meister frock at a recent Red Cross gala. She must have been working on more than her upcoming CD during the writers' strike. Ramirez isn't telling how many inches she's lost, but the actress does offer one style secret to her confident new look. "Sometimes you put on a dress," says Ramirez, "and it just feels right."